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Claire’s heart raced. “I just don’t know if I can make it work. Mia needs me to—”

“I already know you’ve taken work off until January.”

Claire frowned. Of course Melody would remember that. Claire had asked for time off all the way back in October, when she and Richard had still been together, planning to spend Christmas with his parents skiing.

Of course, that hadn’t panned out once she’d discovered that Richard had also invited another girl on a similar trip the weekend before—and that his parents weren’t going at all.

Claire had kept her time off, though. As much as she loved her job, she didn’t want to become codependent on it. That was being too much like her parents.

“Come on,” Melody said, breaking through Claire’s thoughts. “When’s the last time you treated yourself?”

“Last night. With an ice cream sandwich.”

“You were eating ice cream in December? Are you crazy?”

“You don’t eat ice cream year-round, and I’m the crazy one?”

Melody waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever. You’ve got no other excuses. You have the time off, the money, a place to stay for free.” She paused, pulling on her best sorrowful expression, brows drawn high, dark eyes rounded. “You have a friend in need.”

Claire shook her head. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to put your aunt out.”

Melody sobered. “Really, Claire, you won’t. She’s been so lonely since Uncle Will died, and my cousin’s hardly around anymore. I think she really misses having a full house for Christmas.”

Claire looked away, her heart pinching. She knew what it was like to have a lonely life, and she wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

She sighed. “Can I think on it?”

Melody pressed her lips together and pumped her head up and down, clearly trying to quell her excitement. “Yeah, of course. Just not too long. The offer will sell out.”

After finishing off the paperwork with Melody, Claire promised to let her friend know before the end of the day what she’d decided, then said goodbye.

The moment Melody left, Claire went straight to work, not only to distract herself from making her decision, but also because she didn’t have time to waste another minute.

Work was hectic, as usual, but adding the Christmas party on top of that made her run back and forth like a chicken with its head cut off. Finally, after the shop had closed, the deliveries had been made, and the flowers had been set up at Florence Bradshaw Design, Claire spent a good five hours watching all the cheesy, romantic Hallmark movies she could fit in—choosing the ones set in England first and foremost—before returning for take-down.

She tried to speak with Melody while cleaning up the event—which Mia had called “one of the most successful floral displays she’d ever seen”—but Claire hadn’t been able to find her friend anywhere.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely unbelievable that Melody was probably hiding in some quiet corner with the “young enough” Santa Claus for some holiday cheer.

Just after one in the morning, and with still no word from Melody, Claire returned home. Yawning, she fiddled with her keys to her apartment, trying to find the keyhole through her blurry eyes before unlocking the door and slipping inside.

Closing the door behind her, she turned on the light, kicked up the thermostat, slipped off her shoes, then hobbled through her quiet apartment with aching legs. Claire had usually decorated her home for Christmas by this point in December, her Hogwarts Express miniature train tooting around her white-lit tree.

But the event at Melody’s work had taken way too much of her time and energy. She was sure she’d have time to decorate when she had a moment alone, though.

Alone.

Melody’s words from before echoed in her mind for the hundredth time that day. London. Cheap airfare. Time off. Lonely aunt.

The silence of her empty front room pulsed in her ears as her eyes roved over her simple wall décor. Not even the paintings of sunflowers, her favorite flower, hanging on nearly every wall could boost her mood.

And when she caught sight of her Poldark calendar pinned to October—Ross still riding across the cliffside on his black horse—her chest tightened. Had she really forgotten to change the calendar for nearly two months? Or had she just been so busy with her mundane, day-to-day routine that she’d wondered what the point was of changing it at all?

She shook her head, closing her eyes and drawing steadying breaths.

What was she even doing? Was the decision really that difficult to make, the choice between spending Christmas alone or going to England with people who actually wanted to be with her—maybe even needed to be with her?

She opened her eyes and pulled out her phone, holding her breath as she tapped out her text to Melody.